


Night Hikes, Summer Skies

by glitteringeva



Category: RWBY
Genre: AU, Camp Counsellor AU, Camp camp au, F/M, Fluff, Gauntlets and Greaves Week, Summer Camp AU, Summer Romance, a bit of a slowburn, a bit of angst, alternative universe, because jaune totally is david, yeah i totally used ndgo and crdl as the kids here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-18
Packaged: 2019-03-29 16:58:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 17,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13931352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glitteringeva/pseuds/glitteringeva
Summary: Yang and Mercury both work as counsellors at Camp Beacon. But acting all sunshine and rainbows isn't easy when they both have things they are running away from.





	1. Chapter 1

The Beacon Lake was the only reason why anyone would have a summer camp at this godforsaken place right in the middle of nowhere. So technically it was the lake’s fault that Mercury was standing in said lake right now, with the water soaking his jeans, holding up a crying girl by her armpits while Pyrrha tried to inspect her foot. “You are not going to die, Gwen,“ he said.

“Stonefish are the most poisonous fish in the world”, Whitley said. Probably the most annoying brat of them all.

“You didn’t get stung by a stonefish.” Pyrrha somehow managed to sound calm, no matter what happened around her. “Stonefish live in the pacific ocean, not in freshwater.”

“What if you’re wrong?” Gwen was hysterically sobbing at this point, her speech slurred and hard to understand.

“Steinfische sind die giftigsten Fische der Welt,” Whitley said because for some reason he seemed to think if he spoke in a language no one else spoke people would be more likely to listen.

“Please don’t speak German, Whitley. I have no idea what you’ve just said.” Pyrrha looked up and Mercury had no idea how she still managed not to yell at one of the kids. “I can’t see anything. You probably just stepped on a stone. There is nothing poisonous in that lake.”

Whitley didn’t seem to feel like he had gotten his point across well enough. “Stonefish are –“

“Whitley, shut up”, Mercury said, almost proud of himself for not saying _fuck_ this time. “If you can find a fucking stonefish for me you can have pudding for breakfast for the rest of the week.” Well, there it was.

“Mercury, language!”, Pyrrha hissed.

“I’ll tell my father you said that.” Whitley clenched his hands to fists, possibly trying to look threatening, possibly just having stomach pain.

“Whitley, please go and ask Jaune if he needs any help with his macaroni art workshop.” Pyrrha’s voice was still calm, but she had to close her eyes for a second. Mercury wondered what it would take to make her finally snap. “Come on, let’s get her out of the water.”

When they had carried her out of the water and laid her down on a towel, Mercury left the comforting to Pyrrha and Gwen’s best friend Octavia. Fishing crying girls out of the water definitely hadn’t been part of his job description. He had no idea how he was supposed to endure another three weeks of this hell.

The cabins had seen better days. Mercury shared one with the other male employees, another thing no one had told him before, and when he opened the door Sun and Neptune flinched apart. “What are you doing here?” Neptune asked, now sitting as far away from Sun as his bed allowed. “Why are you wet?”

“Getting changed because I had to pull Gwen out of the water.”

“We were just about to play volleyball with the kids.” Sun got up. “Can you help Yang preparing dinner in a bit?”  

“Sure.” Pulling crying girls out of the lake seemed much more tempting now.

“Awesome!” Sun gave him a thumbs up before he pulled Neptune out of the cabin with him.

The dining hall had definitely seen better days. It still smelled like rotten peaches after the infamous iced tea incident and some of the long dining tables looked like they were about to collapse. Yang was already busy cleaning them, as if there was a point in that.

Out of all the camp counsellors Yang was probably the hottest, but she was still just as annoying as all the others. Always smiling, always happy, acting as if this summer camp was the best thing that had ever happened to her. She wore dark shorts and an orange tank top that hugged her curves way too tightly to not stare at her. Her right arm was covered by a yellow sleeve that she had to wear for some reason he had already forgotten. He watched her for a moment before she noticed him.

“Are you here to help me?” she asked, smiling as if she had been brainwashed.

“Sun sent me.”

“Nora is cooking, or rather reheating whatever frozen garbage we’re serving today. You can help me with the plates, the doctor still doesn’t allow me to do pretty much anything with my arm.”

At least she didn’t pretend they were actually serving the healthy and delicious meals the kid’s parents had been promised. He started to set the tables she had already cleaned. Plates, forks, spoons. No knifes today, but those didn’t cut anything anyway. “You are probably just feeding the mould in those scratches”, he said.

“Pyrrha and I have drowned the tables in disinfecting agent last week, I don’t think anything is still alive inside there.”

He laughed and took another pile of plates from the serving cart. “Oh, that’s why this room smelled like a hospital until Cardin –“

“Don’t remind me of the iced tea incident. I still have nightmares.” She leaned against the last table and looked at him. “So do you have any plans for Saturday?“ Yang asked.

Everyone had plans for Saturday. The kids would spend the entire day in a wildlife park nearby, identifying bunnies and petting trees or the other way around, which meant they only needed two camp counsellors to look after them, and Jaune and Pyrrha had volunteered. Everyone else had already made plans for what they wanted to do on their day off and most of them included getting really drunk on Friday night once the kids were asleep. Mercury was just looking forward to have an entire day without anyone getting on his nerves. Lying around and doing nothing at all. “Yeah”, he said. “Some university stuff I want to catch up on before the new semester starts.”

“Maybe you can join us for an hour or two”, Yang said. “It will be fun.”

“I’ll think about it.” Which meant he absolutely would spend the evening making sure Neptune and Sun didn’t have sex in his bed.

“Are you guys ready?,“ Nora asked. “Can we let the hungry mob inside?”

“Two minutes,“ Yang said. “Give us two more minutes and make sure they don’t eat each other.”

Three meals a day meant that three times a day all camp counsellors were desperately trying to stop hell from breaking loose. The kids were acting as if food was a limited resource during a time of need and the camp counsellors were following Ren’s elaborate plan of trying to keep the worst troublemakers away from each other, spreading strategically to prevent another iced tea incident or anything half as bad.

Today Mercury ended up at the worst table, the one with Cardin and his friends. If that wasn’t enough Whitley was also sitting with them, which had made Pyrrha abandon the table with nice kids she had been sitting at to keep him company.

“Cardin, if you try to stab Russel with your fork one more time I will take it away from you”, Pyrrha said.

“How am I supposed to eat my spaghetti without a fork?” He laid the fork on the table with a sheepish grin. “With my hands?“ he said before he dug both of his hands deep into the pasta on his plate.

“Cardin, stop!” Pyrrha looked as if she was finally losing her patience.

It felt like everything happened in slow motion. Cardin grinned and then raised his arms. Spaghettis were flying through the air, drops of red sauce hitting places they shouldn’t hit, and Whitley started to yell: “My hair! I have pasta in my hair!” Cardin’s friends began to laugh and the inevitable happened: Russel dropped his fork and threw a handful of spaghetti right into Cardin’s face. Most of it hit Whitley and he started to yell: “My eyes! I have pasta in my eyes!”

“Cardin Winchester!”

Each camp counsellor had something that made them stand out to the kids in some way. They loved Pyrrha because she was nice, Sun because he gave them the feeling that nothing bad would ever happen, Jaune because he was dorky, Ren because he always stayed calm, Neptune because he was cool, Yang because she was the most fun to be around. But Nora was the only one they both loved and feared. Everyone froze when she raised her voice, standing at the other end of the room, almost shorter than some of the older kids but still towering over everyone else in this room. 

“Ich habe Nudeln im Auge!” Whitley was the first to break the silence. Mercury was sure he really genuinely hated this kid.

“Hands down”, Nora said and both Cardin and Russel lowered their hands, Cardin dropping the rest of the pasta on his plate. “Go wash your hands right now. When everyone else is sitting by the campfire tonight you will stay here and clean this room until I can eat from the floor, is that clear?”

The boys barely dared to nod. Pyrrha got up and kneeled down next to a still crying Whitley. Slowly everyone else was daring to move and talk again. “Whitley, I can’t see anything”, Pyrrha said. “And you don’t get blinded by tomato sauce.”

Mercury had never been a religious person, but this was what he imagined hell to look like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, thanks to Adox for dealing with all my horrible German commas in this story (check out their work on AO3 and Tumblr)! 
> 
> Secondly... I don't even know. This whole story is already finished, so it will have regular updates, and I hope you like it.


	2. Chapter 2

The Beacon Lake was the main reason why they were having a summer camp here each year and it was too beautiful, too tempting not to ruin her summer. Yang sat on a bench, watching Jaune and Nora play with some of the kids in the glistening water. Her skin itched under the sleeve and she resisted the urge to touch it, scratch it, the urge to take the damn sleeve off. She ran her hand through her hair instead and got up.

Yang didn’t really understand why, but the kids loved Mercury. Maybe because he didn’t give a damn, maybe because his snarky comments made him seem so much cooler than the other counsellors. She found him in the middle of Jaune’s macaroni art workshop, both Gwen and Reese trying to fight for his attention.

“That looks amazing”, Yang said when she stepped closer. “Mind if I borrow Mercury for a bit?”

The girls giggled. “What do you need him for?,“ Jaune asked. “He’s my most important macaroni specialist.”

Yang had no doubt that the last thing Mercury wanted to be was Jaune’s macaroni specialist. “Checking the route for the night hike. Making sure we don’t find bear tracks anywhere around.”

“I completely forgot about that.” Jaune took a bottle of glue out of Nolan’s hands who had already covered his whole painting with it. “Yeah, sure. You can have him.”

Mercury got up. “I’m afraid that’s more important than macaroni art. Hard to believe, I know.” He buried his hands in the pockets of his jeans when he followed Yang. “I didn’t even cry for help, I’m impressed, Blondie”, he whispered.

“Your macaroni art is amazing. But everyone else is busy.” That wasn’t the whole truth, but close enough. “We’ll basically just walk down the path we took last year, checking if anything has changed. Shouldn’t take too long.”

“Can’t be more boring than sticking noodles to a sheet of paper.”

“That’s why I didn’t want to do it alone. That way we can… talk, you know?” She tried to make it sound like she wasn’t desperate, which was a lie. But she just wanted to talk to someone who didn’t act like everything was always sunshine and rainbows. The forest looked bright and friendly during the day, the path in front of them broad and solid. It was idyllic. “It just leads around the camp, but the kids always love it.”

“So we’re heading right to the parking lot?”

“Yes. Why? Do you need anything?”

“Yeah. A nap.” He looked at her and shrugged. “We’ll just tell them we went to check out some alternative paths and got lost in the forest. No one will ask questions if you don’t tell on me.”

“Don’t you feel bad for leaving all the work to the others?”

“They’ll manage. Also Sun and Neptune hide in our room to make out all the time.”

“No way.” She shook her head. “You know, I won’t tell on you. I could use a break, too.” She should have felt bad for it, but right now she just didn’t want to go back.

He got a blanket from his own car and then went for the pickup they used to buy groceries or beer for Friday night. The truck bed was empty and he rolled up the blanket until he lied down, using it as a pillow. Yang hesitated for a moment before she followed him.

It wasn’t the worst place to nap. The pickup was parked right beneath a tree, leaves soothingly moving with the wind and keeping the sun away. The truck bed wasn’t as uncomfortable as it sounded. Yang tried to find a comfortable position, one that didn’t make her arm hurt. “Are you doing this often?,“ she asked. “Because I never noticed.”

“You know, napping works way better if you’re not talking to anyone while doing so.” She probably shouldn’t have assumed he was easier to talk to when they were alone.

“Right. Sorry.”

“Once or twice. It’s not easy to just disappear without anyone noticing.”

“It would be easier if it wasn’t just you. We could cover for each other?”

“Are you telling me you actually need a break from the kids from time to time? I thought you absolutely love this job.”

“It can be exhausting. Other than you I’m just doing a good job at not letting the kids notice.” At least it seemed to work with Mercury. “I love the job, but I’d love it more with more breaks.”

“Unbelievable.” He chuckled. “Jaune would be so disappointed. I could blackmail you.”

“Hey, I thought we’re nap buddies now!”

“Guess we are.”

 

* * *

 

“There you are.” Sun was stirring a large pot full of either mashed potatoes or wallpaper adhesive, slowly heating it on the ancient stove that probably had seen the opening of Camp Beacon back in the 70s. “You two have been gone for a while.”

“We were checking out some alternative paths, took us longer to get back to the camp than we expected.” She filled the water kettle and searched for the instant coffee Ren had brought. The nap had left her more tired than before. “We will probably just stick to the path we used last year, though.”

“The kids already made up the wildest theories. Cardin is convinced you got eaten by a bear. Gwen and Octavia are convinced you were kissing behind a tree.”

“Maybe I was kissing the bear.”  

“Would you mind being on marshmallow duty tonight? Neptune asked me to show him how to make fire before he has to teach the kids tomorrow.”

“Sure.” At least now she wasn’t feeling bad for sneaking away to nap anymore.


	3. Chapter 3

“I want to make one for Jaune.” Dew carefully braided the strings Yang was holding for her. Yellow, because Pyrrha had said he liked the colour, and green, because it was her favourite.

“I’m sure he will love it”, Pyrrha said. “I’m making one for Nora.”

“What do you think is Mercury’s favourite colour?” It took Yang a moment to realise Gwen had been looking at her while asking.

“I’m not sure.” Also she had no idea why _she_ was supposed to know that. “Just pick your favourite one.”

Making friendship bracelets had been the best idea Pyrrha had ever had. Most of the kids had been knotting and braiding without a break between breakfast and lunch, even Cardin and his friends had made matching ones for each other. Whitley had made one for Gwen to apologise for telling her she had been bitten by a stonefish and would most likely die, and she had made him one in return. Soon there would be no wrist without a carefully crafted bracelet gifted by one of the kids.

“Are you making one too?,“ Nebula asked.

“No, I can’t,“ Yang said. “My doctor doesn’t allow me to use my right hand too much, and you can’t really make one with one hand.”

“I will make one for you if you want to give someone a friendship bracelet,“ Octavia offered. “I can make one for Mercury in grey and black, like his hair and eyes.”

Octavia definitely had a skewed perception of her actual relationship with Mercury. “You can make one for Ren if you want. To say thank you for buying coffee for all of us.”

“I have tried coffee once”, Dew said. “It tastes horrible.”

“Oh, there he is.” Gwen quickly tried to hide the yarns she had just been picking out.

Yang looked up. Mercury was heading towards them, hands buried in the pockets of his jeans. “Do you want to make a bracelet for someone special?,“ Yang asked jokingly and the girls started to giggle.

“Grocery shopping. Wanna join?”

“Do you need me here, Pyrrha?”

Pyrrha shook her head. “Don’t forget the list we made like Sun did last time.”

Yang left the honourable task to hold Dew’s strings to Gwen and got up. “Alright, let’s go then.”

“What’s it with these bracelets?” Mercury asked when they walked to the parking lot. “Not that I’m complaining, they’re making my job a lot easier. I was supposed to play volleyball with whoever wanted to but no one showed up.”

“It’s about the magic of friendship.” She chuckled. “So are we actually going to get groceries or do you just want to nap?”

“Both. I barely slept last night. Sun sneaked into Neptune’s bed right above me and I have no idea what they did in there, but it wasn’t meant for kid’s eyes.”

“I always thought they were just friends.”

“I wish. Are you driving?”

“Nah.” The thought of being in a car still made her throat clench. It had gotten a lot better, but her heart was racing when she climbed on the passenger seat. She had been driving a car since the accident, but she would still rather not. “I get sick in cars quite easily, so please don’t rush around the curves, okay?”

“Warn me if I have to pull over.” He looked at her for a moment before he adjusted his seat belt and started the car.

He wasn’t as bad as Sun. She had survived Sun’s driving before, barely avoiding a panic attack, so she would probably be able to manage. She hoped she would. “The kids love you,“ Yang said, just to distract herself a bit. “I think you’re their favourite.”

“I have no idea why. I never tried to make them like me.”

“Maybe it’s because of that. I think all the girls have a crush on you. If you don’t end up with the most bracelets by the end of this week I’ll be surprised.”

“I thought I’d get around wearing them. Can I just say I’m allergic?”

“Only if you want Whitley to become allergic to everything as well. Do you want to explain to him you can’t be allergic to dirt?”

“Guess I’m doomed then.”

It had been six months since the accident, and over the time Yang had realised that distracting herself too much only made it worse. Talking was fine, but she kept her eyes locked on the road in front of her, paying attention to everything Mercury did. It wasn’t long until he pulled over to the side of the road. He leaned his seat back and rested his feet on the driving wheel.

“You know, the worst part is probably the constant noise”, he said. “Even if you manage to get the cabin for yourself for half an hour you can still hear them yelling outside.”

“And even if you manage to get some time for yourself, someone will come and get you sooner or later because another iced tea incident happened, or Whitley thinks nature is trying to kill him again.”

“Or Jaune needs help with his macaroni art workshop. Who even got the idea to stick noodles on paper?”

“People who thought that would keep kids busy long enough to take a nap I guess.”

“They never met Jaune. He’s passionate.”

“Are you telling me you don’t want to be his macaroni art specialist? Blasphemy.” She laughed and leaned back, resting her head against the window. “I’m sure you could be a professional.”

“I’ll make a portrait of you and you will have no choice but to keep it.”

“Watch me, I will frame it.”

 

* * *

 

When she woke up the car was parking right in front of the supermarket, rain pelting against the window. Mercury was sitting next to her, staring at his phone. He looked up when she moved to stretch. “Why didn’t you wake me up?“ she asked, trying to ignore the dull pain in her right arm.

“Free WiFi. Wasn’t too eager to leave the car.”

“Is it just me or did it get super cold?”

He reached for something behind him and then dropped something soft into her lap. It took her a moment to figure out it was one of his hoodies. “Come on, let’s go inside before the kids eat the other counsellors.”

They ran all the way over the parking lot to the supermarket, but they still got wet. Mercury’s sweater was soft, almost big enough to hide in it, and smelled like something she couldn’t quite pinpoint, musk? Lemon grass? Fir needles? All of that? She had never been good with describing scents, but if this was just his washing agent she wanted to buy all of it.

The connection at camp Beacon was so bad she had given up on using her phone anywhere near it, so it wasn’t a surprised that her phone was exploding with messages right now when she looked at it. Probably the same reason why Mercury had let her sleep for so long, checking messages from friends, family, maybe his girlfriend or boyfriend. Did he even have any of that?  He talked a lot, but never much about anything remotely personal.

Ruby had sent a bunch of messages, telling her everything about looking forward to start college and even making staying at home with dad sound interesting. Just enough to make her feel homesick. Weiss’ messages were mostly about the stuff she was doing with her sister, but the ones asking how she was sounded more concerned. Blake's messages were perhaps the most normal, asking if she was enjoying herself, telling her about trips to the hair salon with her mum or sending pictures from the beach. Like the conversation wasn't one-sided. Like things hadn't left on _that_ note. There was text between the lines, though, words she could almost see being written and deleted. 'Please tell me if you're okay' and 'I hope you're not upset with me' and, maybe most like a punch to the gut, 'Don't punish Ruby and Weiss for something that's my fault'.

Yang had never been good with words in situations where it really mattered. So she sent pictures instead. The ones Ruby and Weiss got were happy and meaningless at the same time. Kids playing volleyball. Jaune sitting by the campfire and playing the guitar. A few selfies she had taken with Nora. Dyeing T-Shirts in a bucket full of pitch black water, the only hint on how she really felt. Replying to Blake was much harder. There was so much to say and she didn’t even know how to put it into words. Heck, she didn’t even know if she _was_ okay or if she _was_ mad at her.

She ended up sending two pictures she took right there. Some packed gouda, captioned with ‘Say cheese!’, and a selfie. She looked like she couldn’t really make up her mind whether she wanted to smile or not, her hair was still wet from the rain and Mercury’s hoodie was probably the first black thing she had worn in years. It wasn’t answering any of the questions Blake must have had right now, but maybe there was no easy answer.

She found Mercury in the candy aisle. Groceries for the kids got delivered every second day, but they had to buy everything else, be it snacks and sweets for themselves, beer and wine for Friday night, or just marshmallows to make the kids’ day. He was working through the list they had all made over the last couple of days, throwing chocolate bars into the cart that were definitely for Nora because no one else could possibly eat that many. His shoulders were still covered with dark spots where the rain had turned the dark grey fabric of his shirt pitch black and she watched him for a moment before she stepped closer. “How did you get most of the things from the list without me?”

“You were busy checking your phone forever. Did anything explode while we were stuck in the middle of nowhere?”

“Just… friends trying to keep in touch. Anything still missing?”

“Ren’s coffee, but I have no idea what this is supposed to say, his handwriting is horrible.”

“I know which brand he wants. It’s always the same.”

He leaned on the cart while he followed her, pushing himself forward and almost hitting a pile of canned beans. “He doesn’t seem like he drinks coffee at all. And if he does I would really like to see what he’s like without coffee. The sheer fact that I think that’s interesting is just proving how utterly boring this job is. By the end of this summer I will cover the walls of my room with macaroni art and sing songs about friendship and how to tie sailor’s knots.”

“Do you want me to shoot you if you play the guitar with foam at your mouth?”

“Make sure you hit the head.”

“The sad part is that they all really love it.” Yang picked the right coffee and threw it into the cart. “They love the camp activities, playing with the kids, being outside all day long. But after a while it’s just exhausting. Have you ever been to a summer camp as a child?”

“No.” He pushed the cart forward, raising his feet and he only didn’t hit another shelve because Yang grabbed the cart with both her hands and stopped him.

“You’re going to cause a major coffee massacre if you keep doing that. Anyway, me neither. When I worked as a counsellor last year it was my first time actually being in a summer camp and maybe that’s why I am not that much into this whole thing. I like the kids, but just… you know, not all the time.”

“They have like ten times more energy than any of us, except Nora maybe. Of course it’s exhausting. And some of them are just spoiled brats.”

“You can say Whitley’s name. But I can’t be mean to him, he’s my best friend’s brother.” They stopped by the checkout, both starting to throw everything on the counter.

“You have an interesting way of picking friends”, he said.

“She’s not like him. But that boy doesn’t need a summer camp, he needs a good therapist and new parents.”

It still rained when they got back to the camp. Yang pulled the hood of Mercury’s sweater over her head when they ran back and forth between the parking lot and the camp to unload everything they had bought, leaving the alcohol in the car to unload after the kids had went to bed.

During the rain they were using the dining hall for inside activities, which meant more friendship bracelets and trying to keep them from drowning each other in watercolours. Yang sat down at a table with Ren and some of the girls, the table covered in yarn and half-finished bracelets.

“That’s not your sweater”, Gwen said. “You never wear black.”

“It rained when we got to the supermarket, so Mercury borrowed me his. How far did you come?”

Gwen grinned. “I made one for you.”

Yang smiled back at her. “Oh, it looks beautiful. Yellow is my favourite colour.”


	4. Chapter 4

Once the kids were asleep, the camp almost seemed peaceful. From the cabin Mercury could only see the silhouettes of the other counsellors against the warm light of the campfire. He recognised Yang, the way she moved, and he could almost hear her voice, the memory of it dug way too deep under his skin. Watching them from afar was too familiar. He had been watching this world from the outside for too long, this _other_ world where everything was alright and nothing bad ever happened. Throwing himself right into it was scary, but the thing he had always hated most was being afraid. Which was why he got up and left the cabin.

Yang smiled when she saw him, moving aside to make space on the tree trunk she was sitting on. They were using a large tub with water to cool the drinks, but the can of coke he grabbed before he sat down was almost too warm to drink. “So who’s on marshmallow duty today?”

“I’m on beer duty”, Sun said. “Five down, good luck at catching up.”

“Six!” Nora grinned. “And you’re already slowing down.”

“You shouldn’t have made the mistake of competing against Nora,“ Jaune said. “She could drink all of that and still pass as sober.”

Yang leaned closer, her hair tickled his neck. “It’s not going to get any better,“ she whispered. “Say the word and I’ll get you out of here.”

“I’ll say every word you want me to say.”

“Start with calling me Sir.” She smirked and got up. “Merc and I will get some snacks, don’t drink all the beer without us.”

The picnic tables in front of the dining hall were perfect for Jaune’s macaroni art workshop and had the advantage that the other cabins blocked the view from the campfire. They both spread on the table, shoulders almost touching.

“It’s more fun when you’re drunk too”, she said. “I don’t know how Jaune and Pyrrha cope. They’ll probably go to bed soon anyway.”

“It’s probably more fun when you’re far away. But what did I expect from people who think getting a friendship bracelet from a kid who doesn’t know any better than liking you is the best thing that has ever happened to them. Next year I’ll sell a kidney or something.”

“I wish my friends were here.”

“You’re the one to talk”, he said. There was more bitterness in his voice than he had wanted to show.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re friends with everyone here. Are you trying to act like we’re both the outsiders here? Because that’s just bullshit. You have no idea what you’re even talking about.” 

She sat up and for a moment they both didn’t say a word. He almost regretted saying what he had said, but only because it gave away too much. After what felt like an eternity she turned around and looked at him. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Then what did you mean?” he snapped.

“It’s none of your business,“ she hissed. “Do you think that attitude will get you’re anywhere? You’re just bitter and mean.” She got up, almost stumbling over the bench and reaching out for support. She grabbed his knee with her right hand and for a moment they both froze. She quickly pulled her hand away and walked off, the expression on her face hidden in the dark.

“Fuck”, he mumbled and sat up. He reached for his knee, just to make sure, but there was no way she hadn’t felt the hard metal beneath the thin fabric of his jeans. This was bad. This was really bad.

He went to bed. From the window he could still see the others sitting around the fire pit. Yang wasn’t with them. He let himself fall down on his bed again, staring into the dark. He had known Yang meant trouble, but he had never expected her to find out about his legs. He had never planned for this to happen and now being so careful for the past weeks had all been for nothing.

He was still awake when Sun and Neptune stumbled through the door. They were both drunk, whispering in an attempt not to wake him up but still making hell of a noise as they stumbled through the room and climbed on the bed above him.

“Is he awake?”, Neptune said. “Do you think he will notice?”

“No. Keep quiet.”

“Careful, those jeans are –“

Mercury kicked against the upper bunk bed from beneath, hard enough to make Neptune shriek. “Get yourselves a room,“ Mercury said. “One that’s not mine.”

“We were just… you know, Neptune’s bed is…” Sun stopped, but Mercury didn’t give him time to search for an excuse.

“You’re not subtle. I know you were about to fuck. Just do it somewhere else, I want to sleep.”

For a moment it was quiet. Then they both climbed out of the bed again, Neptune almost stumbling twice as they left the room. Mercury groaned and rolled on his side. Everything inside of him told him to run and never see any of the other counsellors again, but he couldn’t, and it made him feel like a trapped animal. It felt horrifyingly familiar.


	5. Chapter 5

Without the kids, the camp just felt empty and sad. Yang sat by the pit fire with Ren, both sipping on their coffee while he was reading a book and she stared into her cup. Apart from Jaune and Pyrrha, who had already disappeared with the kids, they were the only ones already up. The others were probably curing their hangovers. At least, everyone apart from Mercury.  But she hadn’t seen him all day, so he was probably still asleep.

“Is everything alright?”

She looked up. Ren had closed his book and she wished he wasn’t staring at her as if something was wrong. “Yes, of course. I’m just not used to have a morning for myself, you know? Without children throwing cornflakes at each other.”

“It’s indeed quiet.” He took a sip from his cup. “I guess not everyone is sleeping until lunch.”

She followed his gaze and her heart skipped a beat. Mercury was walking towards them, hands buried in the pockets of his jeans. She couldn’t read his expression, she rarely could, but his eyes missed the mischievous sparkle, always amused, always judging. She liked him better that way, when she didn’t have to be scared he would never talk to her again.

“Morning,“ she mumbled, quickly taking the last sip from her cup. She wished she had more, just to keep herself occupied while she didn’t even dare to look at him.

“Wanna go for a walk?”

She hesitated for a moment, then she nodded. “Sure”, she said and got up. His expression didn’t change when she followed him.

The lake was beautiful in the morning. They followed a small path that directly lead around it, never further than a few steps away from the water. A year ago they wouldn’t have been able to get her out of the water all day long. Maybe for a short volleyball match with Nora, hitting the balls so hard no one else dared to join in. Right now she just wished Mercury would say something. She wasn’t even sure why he wanted to talk to her, he had made it very clear that they weren’t anything other than co-workers. But he had been the one to approach her after all, hadn’t he?

“If you want to ask any of your stupid questions, go ahead,“ he said after a while.

“Why doesn’t anyone know about your leg?”

“Legs. Plural.” His voice was harsh and she knew he was mad at her, but she didn’t know what exactly she had done wrong. “Because people ask stupid questions and then throw you a pity party. I saw how Pyrrha looks at you all the time and you just strained a muscle or something.”

“I didn’t just strain a muscle. Do we have to walk around? Can we just sit down for a bit?”

“I don’t care.”

She sat down on a large rock right by the riverside. Not looking at him helped her to think straight, at least a bit. “You know, I didn’t mean to find out about your legs, and I didn’t mean to rub you in the wrong way by what I said about missing my friends. Maybe we’re not friends, but that’s at least not my fault.”

“Just forget about it, okay?”

She looked up. He was staring at his feet, his hands still buried in the pockets of his jeans, clenched to fists. “I didn’t strain a muscle,“ she said. “I had a car accident.”

He looked up. Her left hand was shaking when she slowly pulled the sleeve from her right arm. She always knew it was there, but seeing it still made her stomach drop every time. The biggest scar was pink and thick, spreading all the way from her upper arm to her wrist. The wind brushing her skin felt so unusual. “Looks nasty,“ he said.

“I told everyone I need to wear the sleeve to protect the scars from the sun and that I’m not allowed to use my arm, but I only wear it to hide them, and the doctor told me to start using it again, but I can’t. Not the same way I did before. Especially not my hand. But I don’t want people to look at me differently. I just want to go back to normal and forget this ever happened.” She bit her lip. “If I know your secret you can also know mine. It’s only fair.”

“It’s never gonna go back to your old normal.” He sat down next to her, running his hands through his hair. For a brief moment she could see the crescent-shaped marks his fingernails had left on his palm. “This is your new normal now. The truth is that everyone will have a harder time accepting it than you.” He leaned back, lying down on the rock and crossing his arms behind his head.

“So what am I supposed to do?” She felt naked without the sleeve, vulnerable. Maybe wearing it at all had made the feeling only worse.

“I can’t tell you what to do. Maybe take it off. Maybe wearing it is what you need to do right now. It’s different for everyone, you know? In rehab there were all sorts of people who dealt with it in their own ways. But I’m probably not the one to give you any advice, it took me a while to figure it out.”

“You know, I actually wanted to be away from my friends. They know how bad I felt and I thought if I hung out with people who only remember the old me I would become the old me again.” She looked down at her arm. The scar from where the glass had cut through her skin, the scars from when they had tried to fix something that would never be the same again. “It didn’t work obviously. I got the most friendship bracelets, but I still feel awfully lonely here. It’s ridiculous, I should just shut up.”

“How many did you get?”

“Seven.”

“I got eight.” He sat up and showed her his wrist. “I think one of the girls is going to cry if I take them off, so I have to live with them for the rest of the summer.”

“They love you.” She looked at her bracelets, all of them on her left wrist, most of them either yellow, red, or pink. “I even got one from Whitley.”

He started to unknot one of his bracelets and for a moment she thought he would throw it away, she wasn’t even sure why. But then he tied it to her wrist, his fingertips brushing over her skin. He chose the right arm, not the left one where she was wearing the others. The bracelet was grey and black, his colours, almost looking lonely, but the thought of what it meant made her stomach tingle. “Now you have the most,“ he said.

“Glad you didn’t give away the pink one. It’s definitely your colour.”

“I look stunning in pink. Too stunning to go outside like that, people wouldn’t be able to handle it.”

She laughed, and for the first time in forever it felt like a weight was lifted from her chest. Deep inside of her she felt an unfamiliar warmth. “We’ll do tie-dyeing next week. I’ll tell the kids to make you a pink shirt.”

“You think I won’t wear it, but I totally will.”

“Wanna go back and have breakfast? I haven’t had fried eggs in weeks and this is the only time we won’t have kids around who will want some as well.”

“We have Nora.”

“So we should get back before she wakes up.”

“Alright, let’s go.” He smirked. It looked good on him, the way he smirked with his whole face, his mouth only moving so slightly, his eyes sparkling in a way that was so warm but always made her feel like he was mocking her.

He waited until she had adjusted her sleeve. They didn’t talk while they walked back, but the silence felt light and comfortable. When they reached the dining hall Sun was already sitting at one of the tables, nibbling on a plain slice of bread. “You look miserable”, Yang said.

“Just wait until you see Nora.” His gaze lingered on her arm for a bit too long and Yang felt her heart race before she realised her was probably just looking at Mercury’s bracelet. At least it gave her a believable excuse why people were staring at her. “Neptune is still not done throwing up,“ he said.

“They fuck,“ Mercury whispered when they closed the kitchen door behind them.

“Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. Told them to go somewhere else last night, I think they hate me now.” He shrugged as if it was an achievement.

“I can’t believe we have a summer camp romance this year.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at the [wonderful fanart](https://fanaticalparadox.tumblr.com/post/171840385183/for-glitteringevas-camp-counselor-au-you-should) Adox has made for me I can't even... aaaaaah! They included the friendship bracelets and I am dead.

Flower crowns were the new friendship bracelets. The kids were still wearing them enthusiastically, but right now they were all sitting together on a meadow they usually used to play football, Yang helping to pick flowers while Nebula and Octavia made flower crowns like Pyrrha had taught them.

“Who made the black bracelet for you?” Gwen asked. “It’s new.”

“Merc gave it to me.”

The girls started to giggle. “Does he –“ Nebula started, but Dew covered her mouth with her hand.

“Look, it’s him,“ she said. “Don’t say a word.”

Yang decided she didn’t have any patience to find out what the girls were up to. Mercury sat down next to her, his shoes and pants still covered with sand from playing volleyball this morning. “Do you want to learn how to make a flower crown?”, she asked.

“You just have to braid the stems”, Gwen said. “It’s easy. You should try it, Yang.”

Yang wanted to start to explain for the hundredth time why she couldn’t use her hand and that the doctor hadn’t allowed it, but Mercury interrupted her. “She can pick the flowers for me.” He took some of the flowers she had collected and starting to braid them. Nebula quickly correcting him, showing him how to do it properly. “I’m running away from Jaune,” he said. “He wants me to help him with another macaroni art workshop.”

“Macaroni art was cool last week.” Octavia rolled her eyes. “Times are changing.”

“That will be very hard for him.” Mercury quickly got the drill and Yang picked flowers for him, only the yellow ones because she liked them the most.

“He’s already getting excited for the night hike”, Yang said. “I am too.”

“I’m so excited to see the forest late at night”, Mercury said. “You see so much more than in broad daylight.”

“It’s not about that”, Gwen rolled her eyes, but she laughed. “Anything can happen! What if we see a bear? Jaune said might have seen some bear tracks.”

“Absolutely.”

“Do you have a girlfriend?,“ Octavia asked.

Mercury eyed her for a moment, then he shook his head. “I am married to my work.”

“This is your work,“ Yang said. “Does this mean we’re technically married?”

“Then I’d also have to be married to Jaune, I don’t think I can endure the amount of macaroni art that would bring into my life.”

Mercury let Nebula finish the flower crown. Yang grabbed it before he could, putting it on Mercury’s head before he could protest. “Looks good on you,“ she said.

 “You think you will get it back, but you won’t. I’ll wear it for the rest of my days now.” He smirked. It was hard not to look at him, the strands of grey hair that fell into his face, the soft crook of his neck, and she felt the sudden urge to touch him. It was a feeling she didn’t quite want to understand. It took a moment for her to realise he was looking at her. Her heart was beating faster.

“Mercury?”

They both turned around. Nora was standing a bit further away, waving at them. “I’ll go and see what she’s up to,“ he said and got up. “Don’t let Yang get away without a flower crown.”

The girls giggled. Yang forced herself not to stare at him as he walked off. “Do you like him?“ Gwen asked.

“What?” She looked up. “Well, of course I like him, he’s a friend.”

“But do you _like_ him?”

Oh. Yang felt her cheeks grow hot. “I… no. Not like that. He’s _just_ a friend.”

“He gave you a friendship bracelet,“ Nebula said.

“A _friendship_ bracelet. Pyrrha gave me one too.”

“He has that look on his face when he looks at you.” Octavia smirked. “I’ve seen that in movies.”

“Focus on your flower crowns,“ she growled.

The worst part was that as soon as the girls said it she couldn’t get it out of her head. Did she _like_ him? He was handsome, for sure, but other people were handsome too. Was she attracted to him? She honestly hadn’t really allowed herself to think about anyone that way ever since the accident.

All she knew was that it distracted her, and there was nothing more annoying than that. She caught herself searching for him in the crowded dining hall, tempted to pick a seat near him when they all sat by the campfire, waiting for the sun to go down. But he sat down next to her anyway, offering her a sip from his hot chocolate. He was still wearing the flower crown.

“Nora put us on treasure duty”, he said. Which meant they would take the prize (chocolate cookies for everyone) and walk ahead of the others to wait for the kids to find them. Plenty of time for just the two of them. “Are you ready to sneak away in a couple of minutes?”

“Do you want to go first and I’ll follow in a minute?”

“No, we’ll just go together. They’ll think we’re making out behind some tree anyway.”

The way he just casually said it made her mind go wild. It could mean nothing and everything and if she was honest with herself she was scared of the answer. She sipped on his cup to think of something to say, but he probably didn’t expect her to comment on it anyway. “Alright. Ready when you are.”

She could feel people staring at them when they left. Had Nora set this up for them because she thought they had something going on as well? Sneaking away from camp counsellor duties suddenly seemed to snap back at them. They got the treasure chest from the kitchen and followed the path Jaune had marked for them, only lit by Yang’s flashlight.

“It’s almost funny how much kids love to get scared,“ Yang said.

“Only happy kids. It’s no fun when you actually have to be scared of something.”

She didn’t dare to comment on that. His hand brushed hers for a moment and she wasn’t sure if it had been an accident or not. “I loved things like this when I was a child,“ she said. “My sister was scared in the dark when she was young so we shared a room. Sleeping in a room on my own was super exciting to me.”

“Right now I would kill to have a room for myself at night.”

“Sleep in your car. Or outside. Have you ever slept outside with only the stars above you?”

“No. Sounds dreadful. What if it rains?”

“You should try it. It’s… nice.” She almost would have said romantic. His hand was brushing hers again and this time she was almost sure it wasn’t an accident. Before she could think about she reached for his hand. He was walking on her right side and if she had thought this through this probably would have been the point to decide this was a really bad idea. It was the wrong hand, but now it was too late to pull back. She tried to squeeze his hand, but her fingers didn’t really do what she wanted them to. He got what she was trying to do anyway. He intertwined his fingers with hers, and where she couldn’t hold onto him as strong as she wanted to he just kept holding her hand, not letting go of it.

“My roommate is scared of sleeping in a room with someone she doesn’t know”, he said and she tried to ignore how fast her heart was pounding in her chest. “She always brings girls home and then ends up sleeping in my room because it just freaks her out.”

“What if you have someone over as well?”

“I never bring people home, what if they remember where I live and get on my nerves?” His thumb brushed over the back of her hand. “Is that the tree?”

Jaune had picked an old oak tree as the final station of the treasure hunt. They had dipped some Ping-Pong balls in glow in the dark paint and hung them up in the tree. In daylight, it looked ridiculous, but at night it turned out not to be such a bad idea. “The kids will love it,“ she said. Mercury let go of her hand to place the treasure chest under one of the thick roots. She leaned against the tree and turned the flashlight off when he was done. “We should have brought snacks.”

“If you had paid attention to what Ren was teaching the kids you’d know which tree you can eat without dying.” He stepped closer, too close not to make her nervous, but not close enough.

“We’d be so screwed out in the nature.”

“Mhm.” It was too dark to really see his face, but she felt his fingertips on her arm, pulling away after a brief moment as if he had changed his mind. But he didn’t move away. She raised her hand, almost didn’t dare to, but then stroked his cheek with her fingertips. He wasn’t smirking, but he moved closer and her stomach fluttered. His breath stroked her cheek and when he finally leaned down to –

“I think I see something!”

They jumped apart. In the distance she could already see the flashlights between the trees. They were too far away to have seen anything, but Yang still felt caught in the act. The act that hadn’t even happened and right now she just felt like punching something.

“They were fast”, Mercury said.

“Eager for the prize.” She was sure everyone would have to hear her heart beating way too fast.

The kids were too excited to notice anything was up. Chocolate cookies were shared, Whitley was absolutely sure he had seen a bear, and there was no time to think about Mercury. The girls kept him pretty occupied when they walked back to the camp, telling him everything about the hike.

But the warmth inside her chest didn’t go away, the tingling feeling as if she was balancing on a tightrope and riding a rollercoaster at the same time. It stayed until later that night, when she was already lying in her bed, waiting for Pyrrha to come back from the bathroom so they could turn off the light.

“So… what about you and Mercury?”

Yang looked up. Nora was sitting on her bed, brushing her wet hair. She always complained that it was too hot for her to sleep, going to bed with wet hair was one attempt to solve the issue. “What do you mean?,“ Yang asked.

“Come on. You always disappear together, you hang out all the time, and you’re giving each other those looks.”

“You’re just as bad as the girls. You know, Octavia said the same thing.”

“Maybe because we’re both right. Are you dating?”

“No. We’re just friends.” Friends who had almost kissed.

Almost.

“If you two aren’t dating by the end of next week I’ll have to pay Sun ten bucks, please don’t disappoint me.”

“Did you really run a fucking bet on – I’m so done with you guys.” She groaned. Blake would have been just annoyed as she was right now, and then given her advice what to do. For the first time she allowed herself to admit that she missed her.

“The bet isn’t _if_ you’ll get together but when.”

“I can’t hear you, I’m already asleep.” Nora’s pillow hit her stomach and she laughed, throwing back the pillow with her left hand. “What happens if we don’t get together and no one wins? Do I get the money?”

“Pyrrha wanted to donate it, but that won’t happen.”

“Pick a good one.”

“Good what?”

“Charity organisation.”

“Yang, I swear, if –“

“Can’t hear you, I’m already asleep.”

 


	7. Chapter 7

The day after she had almost kissed Mercury Black started with a thunderstorm. The dining hall smelled like toast and rain while they were hiding inside, the loud chatter almost louder than the noise of thick raindrops drumming against the rooftop.

“You seem quiet today.” Jaune sat down next to her, two cups of coffee in his hands. “Something on your mind?”

“No. I’m just a bit tired.” She took the coffee. It was exactly what she needed right now. “Thank you.”

“You know, with the kids all being inside we don’t need all of you. If you want to take a few hours off, just go ahead.”

“You all deserve it way more than me.” She didn’t want him to treat her differently just because of her arm, because of the accident. It was a fear she couldn’t quite let go of.

“But we’re not that tired. We wanted to start origami, that will keep them occupied anyway.”

She looked at him, then let her gaze wander through her room. It was just an excuse to stare at Mercury if she was completely honest with herself. He sitting next to Octavia, looking at something she showed him in her book. _She had almost kissed him._ “Jaune, can I borrow your car?”

“My car? Where do you want to go?”

“I need to call Blake.”

 

* * *

 

The rain was bad, really bad, but fortunately she didn’t have to drive very far to get a good phone connection. She pulled her seat back, resting her feet on top of the driving wheel while she stared at her phone. It took her almost ten minutes until she could finally make herself press call.

“Yang?”

Yang blinked. She hadn’t expected her to pick up immediately. “Hey,“ she said, but then didn’t know how to start. “Hey, Blake.”

For a moment they were both silent, nothing but Yang’s heart beating, loud and nervous, and the sound of rain. “Hey,“ Blake said eventually. “How’s summer camp?”

“You know, same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie. Jaune is bringing his macaroni art skills to perfection, Nora scaring the kids is the funniest thing ever, I got seven friendship bracelets from kids and one from the new hot camp counsellor, Neptune and Sun totally have something going on and think nobody notices.”

“Wait a minute. You… you know, I’m not sure what I should ask about first, the new hot camp counsellor or Neptune and Sun.”

“They have sex. In the cabin they share with the other male counsellors.”

“Okay, so the new hot camp counsellor it is.” Even though she couldn’t hear her, Yang was pretty sure she was smirking. “Did you… do anything?”

“No”, she said, a bit too quickly. “Almost.”

“Almost, huh? Do you have pictures?”

“Yeah, hang on.” She tried not to end the call while she scrolled through the gallery on her phone. She didn’t really have any pictures just of him, but he still was on a few she had taken of the kids. The one she picked was from one of their first days. He was sitting between Octavia and Whitley, helping Octavia to glue eyes on her sock puppet. He looked good on it, but he always looked good anyway.

“Oh, not bad”, Blake said. “What’s his name?”

“Mercury. He’s… nice isn’t the right word. He doesn’t want to be here. But he can be nice if he wants to.” She stared at the black and grey friendship bracelet that she still wore on her right arm. “He doesn’t act weird around my arm and that feels… good.”

“You haven’t dated anyone in months and as soon as I’m not around, you get yourself a warm summer romance.” She could hear her chuckle through the phone. “It sounds like he’s making you happy.”

Yang exhaled a breath she hadn’t been aware she had been holding. She had mentioned her arm and Blake hadn’t acted weird, neither had it dragged down the mood. Had Blake’s attitude towards the whole thing changed, or had she just had wrong expectations? “It’s not the same without you”, Yang said, almost jokingly, and then more serious: “I miss you.” Both were true.

“I miss you, too.”

The silence was comforting. Knowing that Blake was there, though only over the phone, felt like something was finally falling into place again, things being the way they were supposed to be. “One day I have to visit you in Florida”, Yang said after a while.

“Yes, you do. You’d love the beach, the weather. It’s so much more your thing than mine. Everything I want to do here is to sit inside and read, but my parents always tell me that’s not healthy.”

“It’s what parents are good at, right?” It was one of the reasons why she wasn’t spending the summer with her dad. “I think I should go back.”

“Go and kiss Mercury, and if he doesn’t realise how gorgeous you are I will come over and personally kick his ass.”

“I’ll hit you up on that offer. I… it was nice talking to you.”

“Yeah, it was. Keep me updated.”

“I will. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

The call ended and for the first time in what felt like forever she thought about Blake and smiled.

 

* * *

 

It was still raining when she got back to the camp. She had pulled the hood of her sweater over her head, her bare legs still getting wet and cold. Her sandals were soaked when she got back to her cabin. She left them by the door, and only when she took off her wet sweater did she notice Mercury, asleep on her bed.

Her first instinct was to wake him up, but when she thought about it she decided it didn’t bother her. She switched the hoodie for a dry light sweater and rubbed her legs dry with a towel before she put on some leggings. She thought about lying down next to him, but the bed was small and as tempting as cuddling up to him sounded, she was too nervous to pull through with it. Instead she just sat down next to his feet. He had taken his shoes off and she only now realised this was the first time she was seeing him without shoes. His socks were black with slices of pizza printed on them and it said a lot about him that this was the most colourful item she had ever seen on him. She had no idea why he was wearing socks in the first place, he didn’t even have feet that could get cold.

“Like what you see?”

She looked up. “How long have you been awake?”

“I woke up when you sat down on the bed.” He stretched, looking at her with half lidded eyes. “Sun and Neptune are going at it again in my cabin. I made a deal with Nora, exclusive information for being allowed to nap here.”

“That’s my bed by the way.”

“I know. The plushie gave you away.” He pointed at the small yellow dragon plushie that was sitting next to her pillow, watching them with one eye.

“Don’t make fun of Lulu, I am warning you.”

“Lulu?” He smirked.

“It was the first thing I could say as a child.” She played with the black and grey friendship bracelet. It had become a habit, and for some reason it calmed her down. “My name means something like sunny little dragon in Chinese. Dad wanted me to take it with me. It’s stupid, but I didn’t want to have a fight about it.”

“You speak Chinese?”

“Yeah.” She watched him for a moment. She couldn’t believe she had almost kissed him. He closed his eyes again and for some reason it made him look younger, softer. “Why are you wearing socks?“ she asked. “I mean… what is the point?”

“I suppose you don’t want me to lie in your bed with my shoes on. The whole not wanting to find people out thing wouldn’t work if I showed my feet to everyone. I’m sharing a cabin with four other guys. Also the prosthetics make a hell of a noise when I walk around with bare feet.”

“That…. makes sense.” She looked down at her hands. “Sorry if I’m keeping you from getting some sleep.”

“You can always join in if you want.” He moved a bit to the side to make space on the bed. She hesitated for a moment, then she moved closer and carefully laid down next to him. There wasn’t much space on the bed so she lied down on her side. If she leaned just a bit forward she could bury her face in the fabric of his shirt. She didn’t dare to, but her heart was beating so fast.

“Why is it that you’re always so tired?”

“Sharing a room with four other guys, that’s why.” He rolled on his side, looking at her. If she leaned up she could kiss him, but she didn’t dare to move. His hand combed through her hair.

“You know, as much as you hate it here, why do you even do this job? A part time job at McDonald’s would probably pay you more.”

“I’m not really here for the money.” His movements stopped for a second, barely long enough to notice. “I got into some trouble when I was sixteen. Being a camp counsellor is one of the things my probationer makes me do to seem like a redeemed member of society.”

She didn’t know what to say for a moment. “Have you… have you been to prison or something?”

“No. It’s not something I… you know, actually I never really told someone.” He rolled on his back again and she didn’t like the distance that brought between them. He spread one arm over the pillow above her without touching her. “Everyone who knows found it out some other way, and it always ends in them drowning in pity. Or they think I’m some kind of psycho, which is honestly easier to endure.”

“Then what do you want?“ she asked. He raised his eyebrows. “If you don’t want pity, what do you want instead?”

He looked at her for a moment, then he started to smirk. Not as mockingly as usual, it almost looked warm. “Let’s nap,“ he said. Somehow it didn’t feel like he was cutting her off. Enough to dare moving up and resting her head on his arm. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Even through his shirt his skin was warm against her cheek and she had no idea what he did to smell like that, but she definitely needed more of it. She felt his hand running through her hair. Was this cuddling? This definitely did count as cuddling. And still she didn’t dare to take the next step, to actually kiss him.


	8. Chapter 8

Mercury had always been good at pushing his emotions aside. Option one was to ignore them, to pull through with whatever he was doing anyway. If that didn’t work, he tried to rationalise them, to overthink them until he was convinced they were absolutely irrelevant. But there was nothing to rationalise about his feelings for Yang.

Whenever he wasn’t paying attention, he caught his gaze wandering, searching for her, just to see the way she laughed and ran her hand through her hair. He caught himself trying to be near her, to find an excuse to talk to her. Every thought and movement radiated around her. It was annoying. Infuriating. But every time he tried to get away from her, she only tied him further and further into her net.

Yang was warmth and sunshine. It was a feeling he had always nipped in the bud, ditching girls left and right as soon as they threatened to be more than a distraction, a stranger. It wasn’t that he didn’t like it, he just liked it too much, and being under someone’s spell like that was incredibly frightening. And yet he couldn’t stop staring at her, remembering the feeling of her hair tickling his face, the warmth of her body being pressed against his, the feeling of not ever wanting to let her go. She had already brought him as far as almost kissing her, and this was where he was drawing the line right now. The very same line that had moved again and again ever since he had met her. Trying to stay away from her was naïve by now.

The campfire was a short one tonight, the kids tired from playing in the mud all afternoon and cold from showering afterwards. He saw Yang walk back to the cabin and quickly caught up with her, softly nudging her with his shoulder. “Going to bed already?”

“Only if you don’t keep me from doing so.” She smiled when she looked at him. He wasn’t sure if she even knew how beautiful she was when she smiled like that, warm and open.

“Nah, I’m tired. You’ll just keep me up long enough to regret it tomorrow.” They reached her cabin and he stroked her back for a moment, just a brief touch to keep himself from doing more. He wanted to do so much more. “Good night.” He left before she could convince him to stay.

 

* * *

 

“Hey.” Pyrrha sat down on her bed, legs crossed. She was already in her pyjama, brushing her long red hair. “Can I talk to you about something?”

“Sure.” A nervous shiver ran down Yang’s spine. Her arm? She hoped it wouldn’t be her arm.

“I… I walked in on you and Mercury.” Pyrrha blushed a little. “I didn’t know you were in there, I just wanted to… I didn’t tell anyone, just so you know that.”

“It’s okay.” Yang laughed. At least it wasn’t about her arm. “It’s not like we were naked or something. We just took a nap. We’re not… we’re not dating or anything. Just friends.”

“I don’t want to overstep anything here, but you seem to like him. You look so happy when he’s around. It’s good to see you like that. And him. I guess it wasn’t easy for him to come here when all the other camp counsellors already know each other. I was a bit afraid he might feel left out.”

“He’s nice but… I don’t know if there is anything more to it.” It seemed so much easier to talk to her about it than with anyone else here. She wished Blake was here, more than ever.

“Well if there is… I’m happy for you. You seem to get along so well.”

“Thank you.” She smiled. “I know about your bet by the way. Nora told me.”

Pyrrha’s face almost turned into the same colour as her hair. “Yang, I’m so sorry, I told them to –“

“It’s alright. I’m not mad, not really.”

“It’s still not right, we really should stay out of your private life.”

The cabin door opened. Nora was already in her pyjamas, but her hair was still wet from the shower. “Can you guys actually believe there are people who live at places that are hotter than this one? How does Blake even survive Florida?”

“She doesn’t,” Yang said. “She told me she hates it.”

“Oh, you’ve talked to her?” Pyrrha stopped brushing her hair for a moment.

“Yeah, I called her.”

“Any news from her?” Nora sat down next to Pyrrha. “How is she?”

“No, nothing new. She says Florida is boring and she spends her days reading, as always.”

“It’s probably nicer when you’re a beach person”, Pyrrha said.

“Hey, Pyrrha, can you… can you help me with my hair?”

Pyrrha looked up. “Yeah, of course. What do you want me to do?”

“I just want to have it out of the way when I sleep, it’s so hot, even at night.”

“I can braid it for you.” Pyrrha got up and sat down behind her. Letting people touch her hair always made Yang nervous. Asking for help made it even worse. But Pyrrha didn’t comment on it, didn’t mention her arm, just carefully ran her fingers through her hair before she started to brush it. “I’ll do a French braid, then all the hair is out of the way and won’t bother you.”

“I think I am a beach person”, Nora said. “I like cold beaches. No sand between your toes, no sunburn. Have you ever seen snow on the beach? If not you’re definitely missing out.”

“Oh come on, you like swimming here”, Yang said and laughed.

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t mind if it wasn’t hot enough to fry eggs outside.”

 

* * *

 

Mercury had always been a light sleeper, but the summer camp had only made things worse. Every tiny noise seemed to wake him up, every movement in the beds around him kept him from falling asleep again. Every night he woke up, and only sometimes was he lucky enough not to remember the nightmare, only the feeling it left him with.

His heart was racing. He forced himself to take deep breaths, counting each of them. Tonight he needed twenty-two to calm down enough to sit up. He grabbed the clean shirt that was already lying on his suitcase, already prepared a couple of hours prior when he had went to bed, one that wasn’t soaked with cold sweat. He put it on before he struggled to get his prosthetics into his boots and got up. It was a routine he had developed over the last weeks, an adjustment of the one used at home, but at home it hadn’t been that bad in months.

The air outside calmed him down a bit, but it only made the panic go away, not the fear that was rooted deep inside of him and always made him feel unsafe, on edge. Sometimes, he was just better at distracting himself from it. But here, he couldn’t. He needed the walls of his apartment that he had worked so hard to feel safe in, or on really bad days Emerald right next to him, listening to her slow and steady breath. But here he had nothing to hold on to at night, not even a space to go and sleep that wasn’t crowded with people he neither knew nor liked.

He looked at the girl’s cabin for a moment. The window was open, the one right above Yang’s bed. He just wanted to go there and look at her for a moment, at least one familiar face, only to calm himself down, but there wasn’t too much that would be creepier than that. But still. Some part of him craved to see her, and he was too tired, too worked up to fight that urge.

The window was low enough to lean inside. He hesitated for a moment before stepped closer. Yang was sleeping on her back, her arms spread above her head as if she wanted to claim the pillow as hers and hers only. “Yang”, he whispered. She didn’t move. He had no patience for this. He thought of a way to wake her up that would freak her out the least and eventually settled on softly shaking her by her shoulder. She groaned, her hand gripping his arm to push it away before she eventually opened her eyes. She stared at him for a moment, her hand still gripping his arm. “I’m bored,“ he said. “Jaune is snoring and I can’t sleep.”

“Idiot,“ she mumbled, but she sat up. He stepped back from the window, waiting with his hands buried in the pockets of his jeans, fingernails digging into his palms.

She was wearing a loose sweater when she came outside, her hair in a loose braid that made him want to undo it. She followed him to the picnic tables next to the dining hall without saying a word, her arms wrapped around herself. He leaned his elbows on the table behind him because he thought it looked confident, didn’t give anything away, but the thought alone was ridiculous. She moved closer and leaned against him, her head against his shoulder. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, to pull her closer, but everything he allowed himself to do was to lean his face against the top of her head and close his eyes.

“You know, I thought about it,” he said after a while. “How I want people to react. I think... I still don’t really want people to know, most people, because what’s the point? But, like, if I would want to tell someone… it feels too much like I’m giving up control over the situation. When it happened, nothing was in my control and when I tell someone, I don’t know what will happen. It changes the way people think about me, and they might go and tell other people, or worse, want to talk to me about it when I don’t want to. Maybe I do want to talk about it sometimes, but I don’t think I even know what I want.”

“After the accident, nothing felt right.” She moved a bit, raising her head and for a moment he thought it was to look at him, but she stared into the opposite direction. “I just wanted to be left alone, but I was mad when people did that. I wanted people to act like everything was normal, but when they did I was mad because no one was considerate of how miserable I was. I was mad when people completely avoided the topic, but when they talked about it I snapped at them, because I didn’t want to talk about it. Everything they did was wrong, but maybe I was the issue and not them. Or both, I don’t know.” She fumbled around with her hair before she looked at him. “I have one friend who asked me what I wanted her to do to help me. Weiss didn’t just assume what she could do and what would probably make me feel better, she asked. I got mad at her because I didn’t know, but it was the first time I had to think about my own role in this, what I had to do to get better, and I think I needed that at that time. Which is… it’s not why I asked you. I actually wanted to know. But what I want to say is that for me it was different. Being helpless was less scary than actually being in control, because I didn’t know what to do.”

“No, I get what you mean. I just never allowed myself to feel like that.” He didn’t want to look at her. It felt too close, but she already was pulling away every layer of his well-kept guard, stripping him bare and vulnerable. “I was too busy being angry, I always found someone to be mad at. That’s why I got in trouble when I was a teenager, breaking stuff seemed to make it better. At least for the moment.”

“Did you go to prison?”

“No. I got a lawyer who was actually not shit and she got me out. Told them some sob story about a poor traumatised kid who had been wronged by society too many times, which actually wasn’t wrong, but at times I just wished to spend the rest of my life in prison instead of discussing everything that had happened in court, in front of all those people who didn’t even know me. I got a therapist and a probationer who still makes me do all these things that make it seem like I’m a valuable member of society. I think he’s either scared I might get in trouble again, or worse, he thinks it’s actually good for me.” He played with one of her locks and pointed at his thighs with the other hand. “This is where the fridge hit me. Smashed my knees and pretty much every other bone I had in there. It wouldn’t even have been that bad, but after he dropped that fridge on me in his rage, my dad waited way too long to pick it up again. Felt like hours, but maybe it was closer to ten minutes. He waited until I passed out to call an ambulance, I think that was another day, could have been a couple of hours, I don’t really remember. They tried to save them, but there was nothing they could do.” It was easier to talk about it than he had ever expected. Maybe because she had already made him open up way too much. This didn’t really make a difference anymore.

“Sounds nasty”, she said.

“Yeah, it hurt like hell.”

“I saw my bone.” She pointed at her elbow, but he could barely see anything. It was covered by her sweater anyway. “I was lying on the street, bleeding all over, my bone sticking out of my arm and I don’t even remember if it hurt, or what I thought in that moment. Only that my bone was sticking out. It took them two surgeries to fix it, and ten minutes to explain to me that there was nothing they could do about the damaged nerves.”

“The worst part was seeing my legs before they cut them off. I knew they couldn’t save them before they even told me.” He leaned his forehead against the top of her head again, his lips brushing her hair. It was not a kiss. He wanted to kiss her so badly. “We should go to bed.” He didn’t want to leave her. He was calm now, but he knew he wouldn’t be without her. “You can sneak into my bed and pretend we had revenge sex.”

“Revenge for what?” She chuckled.

“For Sun and Neptune banging in our room all the time.”

“I can come over for a bit. Just a bit though. Don’t want to get caught.”

She was way better at being quiet than him. He took his shoes off before he opened the door to his cabin, but his prosthetics were made to walk, not to tiptoe. The other boys still didn’t wake up when they both lied down next to each other. He pulled her close, as close as he could, and her warmth, the feeling of her body pressed against his and the way she ran her fingertips over his arms calmed him down enough to fall asleep.

When the sun woke him up, she was gone. He could still smell her on his pillow.


	9. Chapter 9

The downside of having a field trip was that Yang was already done with the day when the bus finally moved, tired of making sure the kids got ready on time. The upside was that it distracted her from thinking about Mercury too much.

She wasn’t even sure how to feel about everything he had told her to begin with. It was horrible and terrifying, but a lot about him suddenly made way more sense. What didn’t make any sense was why he had told her. Why did he trust her enough? What even was she to him? Why had he told her something so utterly personal but hadn’t even kissed her yet? How was she supposed to deal with the fact that they had only one week left until they would all leave Camp Beacon and probably never talk to each other again?

She sat down on the seat next to Jaune. Octavia had quickly claimed the seat next to Mercury, so that was not an option, and she wasn’t sure if she was supposed to be happy about that. “I need coffee,” she groaned. The bus was way too cold. She had already put on a black cardigan in dread of the air conditioning in the shopping mall, one she had definitely accidentally borrowed from Blake, but her jeans shorts were meant for the weather outside, not the life inside of a fridge.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wearing your hair like that,” Jaune said. “Looks good on you.”

“Yeah, Pyrrha braided it last night. This morning I was just too busy to do anything with it.” She had barely managed to get out of bed. She probably shouldn’t have went to sleep again after sneaking out of Mercury’s cabin, those two hours had only made it worse.

“You’re not going to watch the movie with us, are you?”

“No. I’ve never been a fan of My Little Pony and I’d just fall asleep halfway through. I’ll get myself a big cup of coffee and then maybe go to a store or two.”

“Sounds good. I’ll definitely need coffee for afterwards. This is my first political protest.”

“Good to hear you’re taking it that seriously.”

Getting all of the kids out of the bus and into the mall was easy, but on the way to the movie theatre they got distracted way too easily. When tickets were bought, all kids were counted, Cardin was pulled out of a toy store and shoved into the movie theatre with the others, Yang was finally free. Neptune and Sun were going to see the movie with Jaune and the kids, probably to make out.

“There is an amazing music store upstairs”, Nora said. “Ren, Pyrrha, you’ll join me.”

“Don’t you want to ask – oh. Oh, yes. Let’s go.” Pyrrha pulled Ren with her. “I really want to… check out some music now.”

“Does she think she’s being subtle? Or does she just accept that she totally isn’t,” Mercury asked.

“It could honestly be both.” Yang shook her head and looked at him. “Let’s go and get coffee.”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

They walked through the mall and his hand brushed hers a couple of times before they found each other, his fingers intertwining with hers. He was holding her right hand again, but right now she felt like she preferred it that way. The way he held her hand where she struggled to really reciprocate so she still had her strong hand for everything else.

“Starbucks?“ he asked.

“Sure.”

The store was almost empty, there wasn’t even a queue. He let go of her hand to pull his purse out. “I take a Unicorn Frappuccino”, he said. “And whatever she wants. What does the largest one you have mean in Starbucks?”

“A venti?” The bored barista didn’t even look up when she typed in his order.

“Yes.”

“What’s your name?”

“Princess Rainbow Sparkle.”

Yang wasn’t sure whether to reconsider her entire relationship with him or to just burst out in laughter. The barista looked at him for a moment before she took a cup and a pen. “Actually it’s either Twilight Sparke or Rainbow Dash and neither of them are princesses.”

“It’s my name, not just one from some stupid show.”

“I take a large Caramel Latte”, Yang said. “Name’s Yang with an S.”

Mercury handed the barista his card. “Don’t forget the S”, he said.

He took his hand again while they waited for their drinks. “I never thought you’re a brony”, she said.

“I have no idea what that is. Octavia told me all about My Little Pony on the bus. It sounds like whoever wrote it was on drugs.”

“I’m just a bit disappointed you don’t drink your coffee black.”

“Why – oh no.” He rolled his eyes. “That’s not even funny, Yang.”

“Come on, it is.” She grinned.

“A Unicorn Frappuccino for Princess Rainbow Sparkle and a Caramel Latte for Yang with an S?”

The bored barista didn’t even look at them when they collected their drinks. “She just wrote _Yang with an S_. Literally.” Yang shook her head before she took a sip from her drink.

“I’m not sure if there is even any coffee in this.” He stared at his cup. “Or if you die when you drink that.”

“Why did you even get it then?”

“I don’t know. It looked funny and sounded like the most complicated drink to make. Gotta challenge the people around you every day.” He took a sip and shrugged.

“What does it taste like?”

“Like someone has slaughtered a unicorn and covered it in jam. Wanna try?”

“Yeah. Hold mine for a moment or I’ll just drop it.” Wouldn’t be the first time. But for some reason she didn’t feel bad about asking him for help, about admitting that weakness. Everything she could think about was that his lips had touched the very same straw she was sipping on right now. “That’s horrible.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“It is.” She took her cup again, quickly taking a sip to get rid of the taste in her mouth. “So what are we going to do now? Bra shopping?”

“I can always use more pretty lingerie. Actually I never go to shopping malls, I don’t know what to do here.”

“Never? Where do you buy all your clothes?”

“Online. It’s not like trying on jeans is easy with those prosthetics anyway.”

“There are so many other things you can do at a shopping mall. The one in the town I grew up in had an arcade. My uncle used to take us there when we were younger.”

“There’s Nora.” He pointed at the music store in front of them. Nora was standing in there, going through some CDs that were on sale. “I though the music store was just an excuse to marry you off to me.”

“Wanna explain your Unicorn Frappuccino to her?”

“No, and I think she’s coming outside.”

“We can hide in the photo booth.”

“Yeah, sounds reasonable.”

It was an old photo booth. The leather bench they sat down showed the orange foam underneath at many places and was uncomfortable. They closed the dusty curtain and she sipped on her Caramel Latte.

“Why does this still exist? People take selfies all the time with their smartphones, who needs a photo booth?”

“To hide from Nora. And nostalgia I guess.”

“Nostalgia to a time where the only way to get a photo with your spouse was to go to the mall and sit in a shitty box like this one.”

“You are so unromantic.” She rolled her eyes. “What if I wanted some cheesy pictures with you to keep in my wallet?”

He took a big sip from his Unicorn Frappuccino and shrugged. “Just take a black sheet of paper.”

“Did you just use my own joke against me?”

“It’s my name, all your jokes on it act under my copyright.”

“What if I sell them on the black market though?”

He looked utterly disgusted, especially when she started to laugh. “You’re so proud of yourself,“ he said. “But that was just bad. You can’t even sell jokes. Especially not yours.”

“It’s good. Admit it.”

“Stop laughing.”

“No.” She could see he was trying hard to keep himself from laughing. “I know so many –“

The kiss came sudden. One moment she was laughing, the next he had lips locked with her, his hand on her cheek, her heart racing, the taste of his horrible Unicorn Frappuccino all of a sudden the best thing in the world.

“Did you just do that to make me shut up?” she mumbled, neither of them willing to move away from each other any more than absolutely necessary.

“Mhm.” He brushed a streak of hair out of her face.

“You are horrible.”

“You love it.”

She leaned up to kiss him, only briefly, before she got frustrated by not being able to touch him with her strong hand. She put her almost empty cup on the floor and when she leaned back up his smirk was so warm she felt butterflies dancing in her stomach as if she was a thirteen year old teenager again.

Kissing him felt like the most natural thing in the world. His hands on her hips, desperate attempts to get closer to each other but their legs being in the way, pulling away so at least his Unicorn Frappuccino was out of the way, him pressing her against the wall until the whole booth was shaking, her right arm wrapped around his neck and her left hand running through his hair, muffled words whispered out of breath.

When her phone buzzed she ignored it at first, but it didn’t stop. She sighed, pulling her phone out of the pocket of her jeans and pulling away from him to see who was calling. “Fuck”, she mumbled. “It’s Jaune. The movie. We should have been back fifteen minutes ago. How do I look?”

“Averagely beautiful.” He leaned down to kiss her again, so soft it made her weak on the knees.

“We need to go.” She pecked his cheek and took his hand. “Come on.”

They got up and when they left the booth he stopped for a moment. When she turned around he had something in his hand, she only then saw it was a photo strip. “Did you throw coins in that thing?”

“No. Did you?”

He shook his head. She took the photo strip out of his hands. It was them, him sipping on his drink while she looked at him, her laughing while he rolled his eyes, the rest just them making out. She felt her cheeks grow hot. “Must have been… I don’t know, maybe a malfunction.”

“Now you got your cheesy photos.” She felt his hand on her back. “I can hide it in my purse if you want.”

“Yeah.” She squeezed his hand for a moment. “Let’s go before it endangers the kid’s political agenda.”

They were already waiting outside of the mall, the kids chatting about the movie and already holding the signs they had made yesterday. Some of them were rather brutal, but no one had wanted to be the one who was stopping their enthusiasm.

“Sorry,“ Yang said to Jaune. “We forgot to check the time.”

“You almost missed the protest.” Jaune looked both eager and terrified. “I hope everything goes well and no one gets arrested.”

“Yeah, let’s pray for that.” As if.

In the end it was just a bunch of kids in front of the aquarium, holding signs that read _Dolphins aren’t sushi_ and _Sharks aren’t pets_ , while the camp counsellors sat in the shadow of a large tree, reminding them to drink some water from time to time. Yang wasn’t sure if the kids really understood what they were protesting against or if it was something one of them had once heard somewhere, but she admired their dedication.

It was hard not to touch Mercury. He was sitting next to her and the kiss hadn’t satisfied her need for him at all, only made it worse. “Do they even have dolphins in this aquarium?” she asked, careful not to let their shoulders touch.

“No”, Pyrrha said. “But it’s admirable they are fighting for a good cause.”

“I’d have a shark as a pet if I had the space,” Mercury said. “Maybe one day if I have a bathtub, I’ll get a tiny shark to pet while I’m brushing my teeth.”

“This whole thing is just making me crave sushi”, Nora said.

“We should have had some at the mall. I’m starving.” Yang leaned her head against the tree behind her. “How long until we can leave?”

“I guess sooner than we thought.” Nora pointed at a tall guy who was approaching them, wearing a shirt with the aquarium’s logo.

“Oh no.” Jaune got up. “Now we’re getting arrested.”

Yang rolled her eyes and got up. “Come on, let’s stop our kids from going to prison.”

“Are you their guardians?” the guy asked.

“Yes,“ Jaune said.

“The manager told me to ask if the kids want any free tickets or something from the shop.”

“Something free?” Octavia put her sign down.

“Can I get a shark plushie?“ Nebula asked.

“Sure.” The guy shrugged.

“Are you just going to take that and go away?“ Jaune asked. “What about –“

“If they give us free stuff that means we won”, Gwen said.

And so they ended up on the bus again, the kids discussing names for their new plushies and Jaune heartbroken by how easily capitalism had brought down the kid’s political spirit. Sun and Neptune challenged them for a football match afterwards to tire them out, and the girls occupied Mercury all day long to tell him everything he had never wanted to know about the movie they had watched. Which meant Yang didn’t even get to be near him all day long, which absolutely drove her crazy.

The campfire was a short one tonight. Mercury kept lingering around the fireplace, helping Jaune put the fire out. Yang was too stubborn not to wait for him. When Jaune finally went to bed Mercury sat down next to her, his fingertips ghosting over her knee. “Why are you still here?“ he asked.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Are you kidding me? I only waited for you to leave.”

“I’m so tired.” She was tempted to lean her head against his shoulder, but she knew they could see them from the cabins, so she didn’t.

“Then why did you wait for me?”

“Hoping for a good night kiss.” She tried to hide the nervousness from her voice.

“Come.” He got up. She followed him behind the dining hall and he reached for her hand. “Gwen wants to be a flower girl at our wedding.”

“Our wedding? You didn’t tell me we have to get married now that we’ve kissed.”

“They are pretty convinced we’ll get married one day.” He pulled her closer, leaning down to kiss the tip of her nose.

“I don’t want to ever get married.”

“Me neither.”

The kiss was soft, sweet. She melted into him, never wanting the kiss to end, but he eventually pulled away. She sighed. “Good night”, she said.

“Good night.”

She leaned up to peck his lips one last time before she turned around and walked away.


	10. Chapter 10

The days went by so fast when everything revolved around finding time to share secret kisses with Mercury. It felt like she was seeing everything through a warm haze, the warmth of the sun on her skin and the warmth Mercury awoke deep inside of her.

Swimming had been her idea. Last year it had been everything she wanted to do, but with her arm she hadn’t dared to. With Mercury, things were different, a warm and exciting kind of different, and as soon as they had had a free afternoon she dragged him along, walking around the lake to find a nice spot to go swimming between soft kisses.

“Can you even swim with your legs?” she asked, pulling her shirt over her head.

“If I take the prosthetics off, yes. I could probably stand in the water, but some undergrounds are harder to handle than others. I’ve never tried, maybe I’d just get stuck.” He stretched out on the towel she had brought, crossing his arms behind his head. “I can watch though.”

“If you can handle it.” She took her shorts off. Wearing her yellow bikini didn’t make her feel naked, but taking off the sleeve did. In front of him, however, it felt right. “Let’s hope I won’t drown.”

“Please don’t. That would be such a nuisance, and today is pizza day!”

She laughed and leaned down to kiss him. His lips were soft and warm. “I’ll try not to make you miss pizza day.”

The water was cold, despite the warm summer. She threw herself right into it, gasping. She didn’t dare to really swim, didn’t trust her arm enough just yet, but the feeling of floating in the water that soon felt way less cold, of her toes digging into the muddy ground, was so worth it. She turned around. Mercury had pulled himself up on his forearms, watching her. She smirked and moved her right arm in the water, then dared to make a few experimental strokes. Despite the initial panic it wasn’t as bad as she had expected.

He was lying on his back again when she came back out of the water, his eyes closed. She spread out next to him on the towel, waiting for the sun to dry her skin and warm her up. After a while she felt his fingertips ghost over her arm, then brushing some wet strands of hair out of her face, his lips on her temple.

“Today’s our last day here,” he said. “Do you think Jaune will cry?”

It was a thought she had pushed aside until now. Tomorrow, they would pack their bags and leave. She would be driving home with the others, back to her father and Ruby; and Mercury would… she didn’t even know where he lived. They hadn’t talked about what they actually were yet, or about what this would be once they left the summer camp. She wasn’t ready yet.

“He will cry,” she said. “He cried last year. He’s always so invested in the things he does, but if you really need a good friend he’s there. I love him, but I wish he’d stop wearing those cargo shorts. My dad wears them.”

“I bet I’d look sexy in them.”

She rolled her eyes and pulled him down to kiss him. “Harder, daddy.”

“Ouch, playing on my daddy issues? How insensitive.” His hand now resting on her hip.

“Not your kink, huh?”

“Shut up.” He kissed her again, longer this time.

“How much time do we have left?” she whispered.

“Not much. Basically none.”

“We should get back.” She sighed and sat up. “Are you ready for the big party?”

“Always.”

 

* * *

 

The last campfire was always bittersweet. Everyone shared their favourite memory from the past three weeks, Jaune played is guitar while everyone sang along, Nora told horror stories, and Jaune had tears in his eyes when he said that these had been the best three weeks of his life. It was late when they finally headed to bed, telling the kids to already pack their things which none of them would do anyway.

He was waiting next to the door to her cabin. Nora just grinned when she went inside and closed the door behind her. “Wanna go for a walk?” Mercury said.

“Yes.”

He seemed to know where to go pretty well already. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and they didn’t talk until they had reached the parking lot. She sat down on the trunk bed while he got a blanket from his car. “You said sleeping beneath the starry sky is nice,” he said spreading it over the trunk bed.

“Did you really just do something super romantic?”

“If it gets me in your pants.”

Sex with Mercury was his hands and lips on her skin, her fingers tracing all the marks and scars she found on his chest, teeth on her neck, and him softly kissing her scars after he had pulled the sleeve from her arm. Mercury getting up and almost tripping when he went to get condoms from his car, muffled moans and impatient fingers, almost tearing fabric apart

They put their clothes back on afterwards, not wanting to get caught for different reasons. He rested his head on her chest and she traced the lines of his face with her fingertips, trying to remember every detail for later.

“So… tomorrow we’re leaving”, she said.

“Yeah.”

“Where do you live? I don’t know why I never asked, but…”

“Florida. Pretty shitty place to live, I don’t recommend it.”

She took a deep breath. They had to talk about this sooner or later, and maybe this was the only chance. “When we go home, what do we… I mean is that it, or do we stay in touch?”

For a long, long moment he didn’t stay anything. “I’m not made for that whole relationship thing,” he said eventually. “But I always knew that at some point a girl would come around I couldn’t really run away from.”

“So do you want some long distance thing then?”

“No, that totally sucks, but it’s not like I want to stay in Florida anyway. At least not forever. I don’t want a long distance thing, but I guess I could handle it for a while.” He pulled himself up and leaned over her to look at her. “Or what do you want?”

“No, sounds good to me.” She bit her lip, trying not to smirk. “We can just see where things go.”

“Yeah, sounds good.” He gave her a tired, lazy kiss. “Can we sleep now? Tomorrow I have to drive all the way back home to Florida.”

“Sleep well.”

“I will.”

 

* * *

 

Most of the kids cried when they had to leave. Whitley gave Yang a long hug before he went on the bus, not looking at her and probably never wanting to talk about it again. Yang almost felt like crying too when the bus finally left.

“Are you ready to go?” Jaune asked.

“I just want to say goodbye to Mercury.” Something she had avoided all day long.

“Are you two…?”

“Yes. Kinda.” She shrugged and tried not to smile. “I mean I have no idea if this is even going to work out, but… yeah.”

“You haven’t looked that happy ever since –“

“The accident?”

“Yes.”

She shrugged, but she still smiled. “I guess.”

She found Mercury by his car, throwing his suitcase into the trunk. He raised his eyebrows when he saw her, leaning against the car. “Coming to say goodbye?”

“Yeah, we’ll be leaving soon.” She stepped closer and after a moment he took his hands in his. “So… I mean you have my number anyway. Call me?”

“Yes. I’ll get on your nerves when I’m bored.”

“It’s a long way to Florida, huh?”

“I won’t get there in a day. Probably sleep in my car for a couple of nights. Romantic roadtrip all by myself.”

She turned her head for a moment. The others were all packing the cars, in sight. Right now she didn’t care though. She leaned up to kiss him, pulling him closer. “Be careful,” she said.

“You got that whole girlfriend thing down, don’t you?”

She only smirked and kissed him again. She wasn’t ready to let go of him yet, to be on her own again and wait for his call. It felt like whatever was between them had only just begun. “Florida,” she started. “I have a friend there. My best friend actually. She’s visiting her parents right now.”

“Poor girl.”

“I always wanted to visit her. Maybe you can give me a ride.”

He smirked. “Yeah, I can. If you want to meet my grumpy roommate.”

“Is she hot? Blake needs a girlfriend.”

“We should make them meet up.”

“Yes.” His smirk was warm.

“Come, help me with my things.”

The others grinned when she got back to them, but none of them said anything. Right now she wouldn’t have minded anyway. “He’s giving me a ride. I’ll go and visit Blake in Florida.”

“Sounds good. Say hello for me.” Jaune pulled her suitcase back out of the trunk of his car. “More space for all of us.”

“Send a text when you’ve arrived safely,” Pyrrha said. “And have fun!”

“I’ll see you all when… when classes start again I guess. I’ll send you some pictures from the beach.” Yang waved at them, taking her backpack with her left hand.

When the car left the parking lot she didn’t have a doubt this was the right decision. She took her sleeve off and threw it on the back seat, the window open and the wind brushing over her arm, her scars. This was what she needed to do right now. Being with Blake. Being with him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to Adox for being my beta and dealing with all my horrible commas, and thanks so much to everyone who has left a comment on this story, or will leave a comment. I had a blast writing it.


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